My 2012 NFL Mock Draft

So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you know that the 2012 NFL Draft begins Thursday (just the first round.  Somehow the NFL made picking players a three-day event).  But, every day it seems that ESPN has had Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay on ranting and raving about who should go where in the first round, who their sleepers are, and who they think are overrated.  In my opinion, the real draft begins with the third pick, the Minnesota Vikings.  Everyone knows that Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III aka RG3 are going 1-2 respectively, but the #3 pick is a toss-up.  So, without wasting anymore time here is my mock draft top-5 and any other notable picks.
1. Indianapolis Colts- Andrew Luck.  This is clearly no surprise.  I mean, the whole Peyton Manning saga revolved around whether or not they wanted to waste its top-pick on Andrew Luck sitting behind Manning.  Well, Manning is gone and so it's obvious that this is soon going to be Andrew Luck's town.

2. Washington Redskins- Robert Griffin III.  The Redskins traded up with the St. Louis Rams to get the #2 pick and it's been pretty much unanimous with all NFL scouts that RG3 will go directly after Luck.  RG3 is being compared to the likes of Michael Vick and Cam Newton (last year's top-pick) with his athleticism and throwing ability, while also having the ability to turn a five-yard sack into a first down.  He'll be a huge asset in the nation's capital come next season.

3. Minnesota Vikings- Matt Kalil.  This has been a toss-up.  Clearly Minnesota feels comfortable in the offensive side of the ball with its main position players in QB Christian Ponder, RB Adrian Peterson, and in the WR department.  Now it's just a matter of whether or not it wants to assess a defensive need or an offensive need.  I went with the offensive need.  Kalil is a big, mobile OT who can help give Ponder protection in the pocket, while also allowing Peterson to have huge holes to run through and if needs be, can block down field for any short passes to the wide receivers.  I like Matt Kalil to go in this spot.
4. Cleveland Browns- Justin Blackmon.  Any pick that helps assess the team needs at the star offensive positions will be a good one for the Browns.  Whether that be a QB, RB, or WR, they need help.  McShay likes them to take QB Ryan Tannehill from Texas A&M, but I think that they have a good, not great QB in Colt McCoy.  Now, it needs to give him the personnel to work with.  Blackmon is the top-WR prospect in this year's draft and by giving McCoy a big target to throw to, I think the team will begin to see success and good results, not just from McCoy, but from the entire team as well.

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Morris Claiborne.  So his Wonderlic scores sucked.  Dude can ball.  Put him in the defensive backfield with Ronde Barber (I think he's older than my dad) and Aqib Talib and you have yourself one heck of a defensive backfield.  The youngest team in the NFL already has a good-young core, so it will only be a matter of time until they get it all together.  Claiborne is certainly a piece that will help make this team a lot better.
6. St. Louis Rams- Michael Floyd.  I know I said the top-5 picks, but the Rams are in desperate need of some help and need a notable WR to help out Sam Bradford and Stephen Jackson.  If Blackmon is still on the board, it will certainly grab him, but the way I see it, it will have to settle for Michael Floyd. Floyd had a great career at Notre Dame and made it apparent that he can be the go-to guy for an offense.
15. Philadelphia Eagles- Fletcher Cox. You didn't actually think I'd leave out my beloved Eagles in this, did you?  The Eagles need desperate up the middle defensive help and after trading for DeMeco Murray, it solved its LB woes, now it needs help along the DL.  Cox is getting a lot of hype, so it won't surprise me if it ends up trading away Asante Samuels to possibly a top-10 team to get Cox before anyone else takes him.
32. New York Giants- Coby Fleener.  It's hard to say what the Giants actually need after winning the Super Bowl, but it suffered tough losses at the TE position to Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum in the Super Bowl, so who knows whether they'll be fully healthy from their ACL surgeries.  Coby Fleener was a huge target for Andrew Luck at Stanford, so expect him to be the first TE off the board and be the final pick in the 1st round.